Red's $1,200 Smartphone Looks Like a Beast

We finally have our first look at Red's ridiculous $1,200 Hydrogen One smartphone, and if early impressions are any indication, this thing is going to be a beast.

Hydrogen One

YouTuber Marques Brownlee got his hands on a prototype of the upcoming premium camera smartphone, revealing some interesting tidbits amount the phone's design and feature set.

First things first, this phone is big. The Hydrogen One dwarfs even the iPhone 7 Plus and OnePlus 5 in a comparison shot taken by Brownlee, who says that the handset will likely be a two-handed device for most folks.

The prototype model shown features a USB-C port and headphone jack at the bottom, though Brownlee notes that the port placement could change for the final model.

The Hydrogen One looks more like a heavy duty camera hybrid than a typical sleek smartphone, with ridged grips on the side, a dedicated video recording button and a fairly large camera bump. The phone packs a set of connector pins near the bottom of the rear panel, which, like the Motorola Moto Z series, will allow you to add mods to the handset that open up new features.

But the One's biggest potential selling point is the holographic display, which will be able to show content in 3D. While Brownlee couldn't show off the holographic screen, he noted that he saw both special content shot just for the screen as well as a normal 2D video converted into 3D. Brownlee noted that he was very impressed by the 3D effect, despite some rough edges.

We still don't have a final release date for the Hydrogen One, but you can already pre-order both the Aluminum ($1,195) and Titanium ($1,595) versions of the phone. Red's insanely expensive phone isn't for everyone, but it could appeal to people looking for a handset that can shoot professional-grade photo and video. We look forward to seeing more of the Hydrogen One in the coming months.